Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Lobo Unbound # 3

By Koppy McFad
September 23, 2003 - 16:56

Lobo is sent by a rival bounty-hunter, Bling-Bling, the Hip-Hop Ho, to a planet where all the inhabitants are human bombs. This is all part of a plan by Bling-Bling to eliminate what she considers her only rival. Meanwhile, on the planet, Lobo discovers that eliminating his target is only the start of his troubles.

This issue opens with a backstory, drawn by DeCarlo in the style of Archie comics, revealing part of the history between Lobo and Bling-Bling. Maybe the editors thought that having a story with murder, sex and betrayal done like an issue of "Betty and Veronica" would automatically make it funny. Well they were wrong.

In fact, most of the story isn't funny. The ghetto argot being used by Bling-Bling and some other characters comes close to being offensive but stays clear of being amusing. Lobo's interactions with the clueless inhabitants of the planet are old hat. How many times are we going to see Lobo arrive in an alien world, get lectured by a naive and then blow the unfortunate guy away? This isn't funny anymore and a lot of people didn't find it funny the first time.

Horley gives Bling-Bling a sleazy charm and the aliens do have a cartoonish silliness to their appearances. But that isn't enough to save the story. It does make you wonder what he could do with better material.

There is a fight scene with a few surprises from the usual Lobo-smashing but not much else to make this issue stand out. Ambush Bug shows up the next issue so maybe things will pick up. Frankly, I see the use of Ambush Bug as a gimmick to revive this tired franchise.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12